5th Year Adventures, Short Story 12, Harry Potter and the Dying Breath
by PTMaskell
Summary: Harry is placed under the Imperius Curse, just in time for his new master to watch him choke to death.


"Imperius," came the almost-familiar, hag-like voice of Harry's pursuer. The wand against the back of his neck had startled him mid-imbibe of the Mandrake Restorative Draught he'd brewed to cure the partial Transfiguration he'd suffered at Headmistress McGonnagal's hands during their duel.

Potter's mind relaxed, and he felt a new, outside will replace his own, lifting him of his burdens. His own concerns were not those of the ones replacing the ones that used to occupy is head.

Coughing slightly, the Auror tried speaking, desperate to know the commands of his new master, but the air could not reach. The draught was caught in his wind-pipe now. Both hands, now fully human, reached up to push the obstruction away, but to no avail.

From behind, Harry's new, kindly master cackled lightly. This pleased her. Falling to his knees, Harry would happily choke to death if it pleased them.

Headmistress McGonnagal circled around Harry. It would have registered as a small surprise to Harry that only her head was visible, were his vision not blurring, and his lungs burning for air. The seconds ticked by, and he felt the beating of his desperate heart pounding away in time with the final seconds of his life.

A Fir wand vaguely came into his field of view, aimed at his throat. Through the ringing in his ears, and the fog of his fading life, he thought he heard, "Anapneo," a second before an almost painful rush of air rushed into his lungs.

Auror Harry Potter fell over, kneeling at the feet of the one who controlled his mind. Gasping, and panting desperately as the red drained from his eyesight and his pulse returned to normal.

This will that dominated his own was completely new to him. Harry would have considered thinking about how he had no idea what manner of twisted will was inside his head had it been his own. The alien presence was all he needed, except for a purpose.

"It was so good of you to visit so late at night on a secret mission. Nobody will have known where you've gone, why, or to what purpose." The Headmistress had not given Harry permission to stand yet, so on his knees he remained on the floor of the Potions classroom of the dungeon of Hogwarts.

Harry had arrived a few hours earlier, just after lights out on a mission to locate the missing Professor Filius Flitwick. After seeing his children off to Hogwarts at King's Cross a week earlier, Harry had made a rare visit to the Ministry of Magic London offices to spend a short day on the clock, in the confines of a cubicle. Near the end of his shift a letter had arrived via owl concerning a missing persons scrying five years in the development.

Not long before his youngest son, Albus Severus had come to Hogwarts for his first year there, word had come across his desk, and much of the Wizarding communities that Filius Flitwick had gone missing. It was well within the power of the Department of Mysteries to locate a living wizard: they hadn't been able to, but the scrying crystals hadn't gone dark either. He'd been officially listed as missing. That day they'd finally targeted the still living Professor, and he was there, at Hogwarts, somewhere.

The Auror department was not big on communication, and the case was left entirely to Potter. The case was considered cold, and the Ministry couldn't afford the manpower to dedicate an entire team to locate one long-given-up-on wizard. Harry had been chosen because of his skills, and success rate in hunting down dark wizards in recent decades.

In preparation for his trip he'd brought one his most treasured possessions, the Marauders Map created by his father and friends. The Map had been enchanted to show the exact location of anyone inside the castle, even in animagi form. In his robes, which he couldn't remember losing, he'd hidden his Invisibility Cloak, a powerful tool for dark wizard hunting, just in case.

Both of which were out of his reach with his will not his own. His skills, and talents, and possessions were his masters to control now.

His master spoke, "Even better that you're so predictable in your choice of spells. I was able to quickly relocate my wand. Unfortunately, it had been discovered by a student with a very long history of single-minded-absent-mindedness. He slipped my grasp, and quite honestly, I should have killed him with this when I had the chance," she held something in front of his face. It was his own wand! He had no idea he'd even lost it. The last time he'd used it, was he'd disarmed her. But he hadn't had it afterwards. The spell had backfired, and they'd both been disarmed.

"Take it," Harry accepted his wand back. It felt odd, almost like it were weary of him. He didn't have the wherewithal to concern himself with his wands feelings.

"We've been watching this young wizard we want you to track down. There's a dragon in the nearby mountains he's likely to flee to. Find him, find out what he knows about this wand," holding up her Fir and Dragon Heartstring wand, "and bring him back here."

Harry nodded.

"And do watch out for that bag of his, he uses bricks from the school itself to portkey his way back at any time he feels. Destroy those. And if you can get the bag away from him altogether, bring it back, we're curious what else he has in there."

Again, all Harry could do was nod.

Minerva McGonnagal shed Harry's Invisibility Cloak and gave it to him.

"Happy Hunting, Boy Who Lived." She sneered, almost bitterly at him.

His mission was clear. Find the student with the dragon, destroy his way back to Hogwarts, secure his bag, and bring him in for questioning. Auror Potter had taken on far more daunting and dangerous quests before. How hard could it be to track down one underage wizard?


End file.
